1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an edible material obtained by processing a digested medium resulted from the cultivation of mushrooms. The material can be used as a food for animals and human.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Main feed for domestic animals is cereals which are also food for humans, and, grasses which can not be eaten by human are generally used as feed for ruminants.
In order to reduce the cost of feed, husks such as rice husks and corncob etc. are used partially as crude feed for ruminants, however, it has not been used widely because good results are not obtained. Most of the husks are being disposed of.
Furthermore, with respect to a material obtained by decomposing a waste medium resulted from the cultivation of mushrooms in a medium containing mainly sawdust by the action of yeast etc., there have been conducted feeding tests by research organizations and farmhouses in each place.
However, the tests in most cases encountered large obstacle in continuous feeding. For example, in the case of feeding the above material to twenty cattle, very satisfactory growth was observed for 7 months, but, thereafter, the animals lost their appetites rapidly, exhibited robot-like actions by the stiffening of muscles and all of them came to die within one month.
The reason is not yet clarified, but it seems that resins, tar and cyanic compound etc. originated from the sawdust were probably accumulated in the animal's body and the hindrance appeared when the accumulation had increased beyond some level.
In order to overcome the above problem, present inventor has carried out many years of research for cultivating mushrooms employing grass materials avoiding woody materials such as sawdust.
It has been found that good result is obtained when the digested medium yielded from the above cultivation is improved in the taste by employing the medium in a small amount under adding thereto the lees of soybean sauce or apple juice, molasses, compound feed etc. However, when the ratio of the medium to the additives is increased, the feed declined in taste and no good result is obtained.
Furthermore, in the case of employing a digested medium obtained by the cultivation of mushrooms as a feed, a long period of time is consumed to accustom animals to the feed, therefore, the conversion of feed requires complicated procedures, and the digested medium is not suitable for human food because of its odor.